News Corp. sells community papers

Les Goodstein, a veteran newspaper executive, will run the 11 papers along with this wife who has been running NYC CommunityMedia

New York's community newspaper market has a new, albeit veteran player: Les Goodstein, a longtime executive at both the New York Daily News and News Corp., has bought the Community Newspaper Group, News Corp.'s stable of 11 local papers and their websites. They include Caribbean Life,The Brooklyn Paper, The Bronx Times Reporter and Bay Ridge Courier.

News Corp. announced the sale on Monday.

Mr. Goodstein had run Community Newspaper Group and had orchestrated the papers' purchase by News Corp. as part of a strategy to build a network of local media properties around the Manhattan-centric New York Post and help stem that paper's red ink. The effort failed to gain traction. According to The New York Times, News Corp. bought Courier-Life and the TimesLedger papers for a combined $16 million in 2006.

The executive, who had worked at News Corp. since 2006, left last year following its restructuring into two companies, one centered around newspapers, the other television and film. He was joined in the purchase by his wife, Jennifer Goodstein, who has been running NYC CommunityMedia, a chain of Manhattan local papers that includes The Villager and Downtown Express, since 2012.

Mr. Goodstein will be CEO of the combined company and Ms. Goodstein will be president.

"It's a very happy reunion," said Mr. Goodstein of his return to CNG on Monday morning.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close next week, were not disclosed. The papers had been on the block since December. CNG also publishes magazines, including the Family group, Prom Experience and Sweet Sixteen.

Mr. Goodstein said that despite the growth of hyperlocal news site DNAinfo there was still a market for readers of a weekly print product—and for advertisers who want to reach them.

"We can service a lot of areas for the local community advertiser and also service larger advertisers who need broad reach," he said in an interview. "These newspapers have a great brand name and a great franchise."

"This sale, like our divestiture of the Dow Jones Local Media Group, helps us reshape the News Corp portfolio as we achieve greater globalization and digitization of our businesses with an eye towards long-term growth," said Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp., in a statement. "We're confident that these newspapers and magazines will prosper under the leadership of Les and Jennifer Goodstein."